The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

[Reedu]

Book 1: http://www.amazon.com/Eye-World-Wheel-T ... 0812511816

Robert Jordan died while writing the final book, which is in the process of being finished by Brandon Sanderson:

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/page/56 ... ss-Bar-FAQ

Supposedly it's coming out later in 2009.

Also, it's apparently about 700k words long, which is HUGE. None of the other books even break 400k words.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_ ... the_series

I think most people agree that this series starts off amazing...but then goes on and on and on (and on and on...). I've read every book, but I'll admit that I skimmed through the boring parts of the later books. I'll definitely read the last book cause I have to see what happens at Tarmon Gai'don!

[greekrefugee]

Yeah, seriously. I bought Crossroads of Twilight but never got around to reading it, and I think there were two more after that and then the final one. I read the first few in high school, and have re-read the series various times as newer books came out. I just kind of lost the will to keep up with it, but I definitely want to know how it ends. I always used to joke that he better not die before he finished it, and then he did. gg.

The first three or four are definitely worth a read though.

[Someshta]

*spoilers, sort of*

Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart is where it hit an all time low. Crossroads of Twilight was a lot better and it was evident he was trying to tie up all the subsidiary plots. He actually accomplished this quite wonderfully in Knife of Dreams. It's no Eye of the World or Shadow Rising (probably my favorite because of the huge interaction with the Aiel), but it's definitely high up there.

I would suggest reading KoD because the only two major plots left now are Tarmon Gai'don and the issue of the Amyrlin.

[Danaerys]

The proposed 12th installment A Memory of Light has been split into three parts:

-The Gathering Storm
-Towers of Midnight
-A Memory of Light

Wikipedia Link

For those interested, The Gathering Storm hits stores on the 27th of October.

[Reedu]

Holy crap. =[

[greekrefugee]

Oh, that's cool. Drag it out even more.

[Lazloth]

Oh, that's cool. Drag it out even more.

Yeeaah...

I got it in my head a couple weeks ago that I would reread the series as a means by which to not be totally lost when reading the new book. Now, halfway through or so, I'm starting to actually remember just how many WoT books there are.

Its actually been years and years since I first read these, enough that a lot of things slipped out of my mind, but reading it again now......how the hell did Terry Goodkind not get sued over the Sword of Truth? I mean I'll grant that a lot of this style of fantasy is inevitably similar, but a huge portion of his themes/concepts seem basically like they were copied right out of Jordan's head.
Incidentally I'm finding a lot of the same issues and qualms I had when reading Goodkind (incomprehensible naivete, stupidity, excessive description of unimportant things etc.), but at least Jordan's writing is way better, if a bit misogynistic.

[Karrde]

The most recent book was quite good, and I don't see any way they would have been able to finish the series short of the 3 additional books by sanderson. Book 12 as it is was already about 900 pages, and its fairly action packed as far as WoT book goes, especially compared to books 7-10. It's definitely one of the better books in the series.

[Lazloth]

The most recent book was quite good, and I don't see any way they would have been able to finish the series short of the 3 additional books by sanderson. Book 12 as it is was already about 900 pages, and its fairly action packed as far as WoT book goes, especially compared to books 7-10. It's definitely one of the better books in the series.

Yeah, I dunno how many people read previously or took my word for and read his work, but Sanderson is really talented. Without his involvement I don't think I would be all that interested in finishing WoT. I only wish it wasn't going to stall his own original work for two more books worth of time.

[Mirkendargen]

I really didn't find WoT and the Sword of Truth to be that similar, outside both being fantasy books. I guess they both had female orders of magic users that happened to have evil factions hidden within them and a protagonist "discovering" his power. Also the whole "war we can't really remember" thing going on.

The Wheel of Time seems like a more broad fantasy/political struggle, while the Sword of Truth, ESPECIALLY Faith of the Fallen and on, is like one big metaphor for communism and hating it taken to an extreme level. I seriously wondered while I was reading that book what Stalin did to Terry Goodkind...

[greekrefugee]

That and the fact that Goodkind likes hentai. Or at least demon rape anime.

[Lazloth]

Well, I finished Knife of Dreams last night and I guess I'm up to date now, just have to go grab the new book from the store. I actually really rather liked books 8-11, the last two of which I had never previously read. With the exception of the Cadsuane character, of course. Why every single female character has to be either obnoxious, arrogant, or naive.......or all three, is beyond me. Aviendha is about the only one I've ever been able to really like. And Birgette. Anyway though....I'm eager to see how the end turns out and supposedly Sanderson is really cranking out the other two volumes.

As far as....

I really didn't find WoT and the Sword of Truth to be that similar

...

Two halves of magic vs two kinds of power, and men going crazy from using it
Aes Sedai vs Sisters of Light
Black Ajah vs Dark Sisters
Aes Sedai barely age, Sisters age slowly because of their palace
"The Power" kills without training
Evil sister starts off trying to kill x character then decides she has to help
A'Dam vs Rada'han
Prophecy says x character will save the world, coteries of female magic users flock to capture and control said character
Children of Light vs Blood of the Fold
Absentee god figure vs scheming devil archetype
Dreamers and Dreamwalkers
Seanchan vs Imperial order and their invasions

Honestly I could go on and on but with some of those things in particular you can see that they are fundamental plot elements that a writer would base the writing of a story around. One doesn't come up with a magical system in the middle of a book or randomly decide to slip dark sisters in. That kind of idea is formulated before hand and the story itself is written to accommodate, and examining the two series' with that in mind there is a lot that becomes......sketchy.

[Gregor]

I'm looking for a new series, as I'm quite bored at home all the time. This one has been on mind for a while, and my question is, should I engage in this series? Should I read all the works, or pick and choose the novels based on individual merit?

[Lazloth]

If you're going to read any of them, you need to read them all, and in order really.
I actually picked up the most recent book but haven't read it yet, however I read some comments that Sanderson made that basically pointed to his dialing down a lot of "his" influence on the story because Jordan diehards cried a lot. Unfortunately, that influence is what actually made The Gathering Storm enjoyable for me, so I'm starting to have some doubts as to whether or not the series will finish well. We'll see what happens in this volume I guess.

[Mirkendargen]

I finished the latest book. It suffers from the same thing as the rest of the second half of the series IMO. There are only about 50 pages in the book where stuff actually happens, and the rest is just crap that you wade through because you want to get to where something happens.


SEMI SPOILER ALERT



I assumed the whole thing with Moiraine and the Tower of Genji would finally be resolved in this book, especially given the title. And it was. In ONE, FUCKING, CHAPTER. Yeah.